Richards/Rangers Union May Be A Foregone Conclusion, But At What Price?Plus: No Drury buyout today and Tyler Kennedy could be an attractive UFA

Love it or hate it, it’s sounding more and more likely that
Brad Richards will become the newest big-ticket talent to join the New York
Rangers on Friday when the unrestricted free agency period begins.

It certainly seems like a good bet that the Rangers will ink
Richards on Friday, but plenty can change between now and then.Two months ago it seemed like a foregone
conclusion that Richards would end up a Ranger, but in recent weeks rumors
swirled that A) the Rangers weren’t willing to pay Richards top dollar B)
Richards wasn’t as interested in New York as originally thought C) Richards
didn’t want to play in a big media market and D) Richards was highly interested
in re-joining Tampa Bay.

But rumors are not reality and Brooks’ comments show that
the Rangers are more than willing to spend big money on Richards and that the
center remains high on New York.Making the Richards-Rangers marriage even
more likely is that one of Richards’ other likely suitors, the Los Angeles
Kings, are no longer in the running for him after trading for Mike Richards.

The remaining competition is believed to be Toronto
and maybe Tampa Bay, but the Lightning must first
re-sign Steven Stamkos and may not have nearly enough money to entice
Richards.Darkhorses could emerge, but
the Rangers’ path to Richards appears clear at the current junction.

The key question, of course, is that if the Rangers are
Richards’ primary suitor and logical future home, should they really be willing
to offer him the sun, the moon and the stars?

Richards deserves a big multi-year deal to be sure, but he
doesn’t have much leverage right now.He’s unlikely to have much interest in the rebuilding Maple Leafs at
this stage of his career and that leaves just one logical interested club that
we know of, New York.

That’s not to say that GM Glen Sather will be able to get
away with low-balling Richards, but the eight-year, $50+ million deal Richards
supposedly wants shouldn’t be in consideration for New York.

The problem is that Sather doesn’t have a strong history of
demonstrating restraint at the free agent market and has been known to outbid
opponents, even non-existent opponents, for players like Wade Redden by a significant
margin.

Given the common assumption that Richards wants the Rangers
and the Rangers want Richards, Brooks’ suggestion that the Sather offer
Richards a five-year, $32.5 million deal is a sensible starting point.

Richards may pout that the deal is three years and $20
million shy of his dream contract, but with his options limited, he may just
bite.

It will be up to Sather to decide whether that offer is negotiable,
but if the market for No. 91 is as currently surmised, that should be more than
enough to get a deal done.

- Yesterday Brooks reported that captain Chris Drury had
changed his mind and was ready to accept a contract buyout from the
Blueshirts.New York didn’t place Drury on unconditional
waivers today – the requisite precursor to a buyout – and now has one last
chance to do so tomorrow to set the buyout process in motion in time for the
close of the buyout period on Thursday.If Drury is indeed ready to move on, it’s puzzling why New York didn’t act swiftly today.We’ll know for sure tomorrow whether Drury’s
contract will be sliced in half next year, but there’s also a chance this could
carry on to the second buyout period later this summer.

- To the surprise of the hockey community, the Pittsburgh Penguins
chose not to give 24-year-old left wing Tyler Kennedy a qualifying offer,
meaning Kennedy will become an unrestricted free agent come Friday.Pittsburgh
doesn’t have a ton of cap space but could probably have found a way to sign
Kennedy, unless the left wing’s contract demands were exorbitant.Kennedy tallied career highs of 21 goals and
24 assists this year for the injury-riddled Penguins, but his totals may have been
inflated thanks to Kennedy’s increased ice-time more so than his actual
talent.Kennedy is probably to cash in
now as a first- or second-liner, when in actuality he’s probably a solid fit on
the third line of most NHL teams.If his
contract demands are reasonable, the left wing-desperate Rangers will likely be
interested.